A VALORANT test environment—also known as the Public Beta Environment—is open for a “limited number” of North American players, where they have the chance to test early builds and upcoming patches before they hit the live servers.

Riot’s bi-weekly patch schedule isn’t without its issues, and according to the devs, they could use some “extra help” to identify bugs and “evaluate stability” before patches go live. This includes changes to agents, weapon balance, game systems, competitive, and other updates that are often found in the patch notes.

But the main reason for the PBE is to identify bugs, according to Riot. It’s for testing features that are ready to ship but need a “final pass” to catch any issues. 

In contrast to the League of Legends PBE, the VALORANT PBE is “selectively available” and not open 24/7. It’s open for one weekend before each new patch, which is two weekends prior to the normal Tuesday release date. 

Over the allotted weekend, North American players are able to jump into the PBE, test proposed changes, and report bugs in the dedicated VALORANT PBE subreddit. A megathread on the subreddit includes a collection of change notes and details what players should actively be looking to test on the weekend.

How to sign up

To apply to join the PBE, head over to Riot’s sign-up page. 

Once you enter your VALORANT account name, you should receive a response in your email’s inbox with more instructions on how to download and what to do next.

Signing up is reserved for North American accounts but may open up for additional regions in the future. You must be active on your North American account and “consistently” play from there. You also must not have any current bans or restrictions on your account.

Meeting these requirements and signing up doesn’t guarantee you’ll get access to the PBE. It’s important to stress that it’s restricted to a limited number of players. 

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